Title: Numbered Days

Series: The Lexenos Saga Book 1

Author: Maritza Michelle

Genre: Dystopian Romance

Release Date: March 7, 2023

Cover Design: Pink In Ink Designs

In Ceniza, whoever has money, has time.

Kace Coronado was taught from a young age what his place in his world was to be. Bound by duty to uphold a society that has long favored the rich and privileged, he has begun training to take his rightful place in Synod, the governing committee that assigns all Ceniza citizens the rest of their lives. He had his entire life before him. But nothing ever worth having comes without a steep price.

That price comes in the form of Ahava Downing, the girl from the lowest segment of the city that he never saw coming. She doesn’t need anyone, and she makes sure he knows it. His polar opposite, she is a walking embodiment of the very thing his leadership is meant to control. But the moment she boarded his transport, his entire focus began to transfer. His sun rises and sets on her.

Priorities shift when everything they thought they knew about their world is uprooted, and truth begins to take form in its place.

What would you do…if you knew you had your whole life ahead of you…but the love of your life only had a year left to live?

What would you do…if the one you can’t help but love…also represented everything you’d been raised to hate?

The race against time begins. Will anyone truly get out alive?

“If you're looking for a book that keeps you on your toes, infuriates you and leaves you wanting more - this is the book you'll want to read!” ★★★★★ Stephanie P.

I take a seat upon entering, in a room filled with black walls and large windows. There are many familiar faces around me, also waiting to find out their time, but everything is a blur.

My name is called, and I stand to go back, correcting my mindset so I will not falter. The way I have been trained to.

An elder gentleman sits me down, looks me in the eye, and tells me with certainty that I am one of the lucky ones.

Lucky.

I wonder what they say to those that aren’t.

I just smile and nod. Internally I’m screaming. This ceremony did nothing for me. I stand up, steady like a rock, ready to meet my Father behind the closed steel doors.

As I walk out, the roars of the crowd grow louder, my heart racing. Gold and purple banners are strung along every railway. Coronado believes purple to be sacred, as it meant royalty in the past, and they believe it to be the closest thing to that now.

Mussing up my hair anxiously, I smile, the way I've been trained, and wave at all of the admirers.

I see my Father from across the yard. His presence demands attention. Sleek black hair and taller than most. He is wide in frame, probably would have been a footballer if that was still a thing, but only something I see now on old recordings. His hand holds my Mother’s but his eyes hold mine. He stands always at attention, ready to take on the world in an instant if need be.

He has never faltered. I doubt he ever will.

As I reach them, he slaps me quickly on the back, refusing to ask a question he already knows the answer to.

Maritza Michelle is a co-author duo of two longtime friends, Jasmine and Katelynn, who fell apart and back together through their love of writing and makeup.

Katelynn Colunga hails from a small town in Michigan. She has been a published romance author since 2013, and took a break from 2018 until now to focus on being a stay at home mom to three young children. She has written under two different pen names: K.Pinson for her New Adult Romance, Adult Romance and Contemporary, and Kate Lynne for her Erotica shorts. Katelynn tends to always have some kind of psychological twist in the majority of her writing.

Jasmine De La Cruz, an Angeleno born and raised, is a wife and dog mom to two hellions, Maiya and Chloe. She has written as Jasmine Carolina since 2014, and has published five Young Adult and New Adult Contemporary novels to date: Losing Me, Never Let Me Go, Almost Everything, Unbroken, and Take It All. Jasmine tends to always throw a bit of real life into her books, whether it’s her own, or current events. After a five year grief-fueled hiatus, she is now back and more dedicated to her craft than ever.

Both Katelynn and Jasmine are excited for everyone to follow along with their comeback story, each as an irreplaceable half of Maritza Michelle.

Maritza Michelle’s first project is tentatively titled Numbered Days, and is due to release early 2023.

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